


Boarding School Boredom

by myth_taken



Category: The Wicked Years Series - Gregory Maguire, Wicked - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-04-26 23:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5025025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myth_taken/pseuds/myth_taken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>another trash au by me<br/>Inspired by a post by theboofastgenie on Tumblr; Elphaba and Galinda are roommates at an elite boarding school. Starts in ninth grade as measured by American schools because that's what I know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know if the title is actually going to be relevant to the story? it was just slightly clever and i needed something

Elphaba walked into the room and swung her suitcase onto the twin bed. She had gotten there before her roommate, and for the first time she inwardly thanked her father for putting her on the earliest flight there was. It had given her the first time she had ever been alone, completely outside the influence of her family and outside the field of vision of everyone else.

She sat next to her suitcase for a few minutes, then stood up again to open it, shoving her clothes into her side of the closet. She shoved them as far to the side as she could, shrinking them away from the portion of the closet that would soon be invaded by another person’s clothes.

She sat down again, trying to imagine the girl who would share the room with her. Galinda Arduenna. Her name was most certainly Gillikin. Elphaba had never met a Gillikin, but she had read about them. Nothing she had read had been positive, at least not from her perspective. Hopefully Galinda would be an exception to the blonde, pale-skinned, upper-class types in Elphaba’s books.

Elphaba looked at her watch. Only half an hour had passed since she had arrived. She busied herself with setting up her desk, despite the fact that the careful organization would almost certainly be destroyed within a week. Once that was done, she got out a book and began to read, her back against the headboard, legs outstretched.

About two hours later, the door swung open. Elphaba immediately pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, shielding herself from the noise and chatter coming from the doorway.

“Did you pack your turquoise dress for orientation later?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Are you sure? You know how you are with remembering things. And you have your medication, right?”

“Of course I have my medication.”

“I know, I know. I just worry.”

“Mother. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

The pair finally stopped to look around the room. Elphaba peered over her knees at them, watching as they took in the other girl’s bed (Galinda. Galinda’s bed), the nightstands, the window. She could tell exactly when each pair of eyes got to her by the way they widened. Neither of the others said anything, though, so Elphaba got up from the bed and stuck out a hand. “I assume you’re Galinda?”

Galinda looked at her hand with an expression of distaste. “You’re green.”

“You’re very observant.”

“Is it contagious?”

“I would assume not, seeing as I’ve never met any other green people.”

“Better safe than sorry, dear,” Galinda’s mother said, putting a protective arm around her daughter. “I’m sure you understand, miss- what’s your name again?”

Galinda shrugged her mother’s arm away and answered before Elphaba could. “She’s Elphaba Thropp. Didn’t you read my papers?”

“Thropp? As in-”

“Yes.” Elphaba cut Mrs. Arduenna off before she could get any farther. “I don’t plan on taking the Eminency. My sister is far more suited.”

“I assume she’s a normal color,” Mrs. Arduenna said.

“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll find her completely armless.”

“Did you say armless?”

“Yes.”

“I suppose your cleverness makes up for your lack of proper coloration.”

“Most add it to the list of defects.”

Mrs. Arduenna turned away from Elphaba to focus on her daughter. “Galinda, are you sure you’re all right here?”

“I’ll be fine, Mother.”

“If you’re sure. I’ve checked you in and everything. I don’t know what else I can do.”

“It’s all right if you leave.”

“Oh, I don’t want to do that. Not yet. I’m sure most parents are still here.”

“My parents didn’t even see fit to come, much less stick around for orientation,” Elphaba said, “so I think you’re all right.”

Galinda ignored her. “You can leave if you want, Mother, honestly. This can’t be interesting for you.”

“I can’t believe I have to leave you behind.” Mrs. Arduenna was crying now.

Elphaba picked up her book and sat back on the bed, ignoring the rest of the tearful goodbye.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is probably short. i don't know. i'm kinda going back to writing this. sorry, everyone following my hamilton stuff.

The instant she saw the other students at orientation, Elphaba automatically took a step back towards the door. Everyone else in the room was perfectly coiffed, the girls in colorful sundresses, the boys in button-downs and khaki pants. Elphaba, in her dark red T-shirt and cargo shorts, was horrifically out of place. She could feel the eyes of everybody in the room, even though everyone made a point of not looking at her directly.

She sat on the edge of the room, her chair slowly creeping further and further away from the other students. She looked at the gap between her chair and the other chairs and scooted a little closer, but only in consideration of those walking between her chair and the wall.

Her attention was drawn away from perfectly positioning her chair by an amplified voice ricocheting through the room.

“Hello, and welcome to Crage Hall. I am Madame Morrible, headmistress here, and I’d like to introduce you all to the campus.”

Elphaba didn’t bother listening past this. Madame Morrible couldn’t have anything interesting to say that Elphaba hadn’t already read in the wealth of introductory material she had received in the mail. She’d ask somebody later, maybe, if anyone was willing to talk to her.

Right on cue, as Madame Morrible finished, the boy next to her leaned across the gap and whispered, “Don’t I know you?”

Elphaba glanced at him. He was short and blond, and his face, in expression more than in form, resembled that of a puppy. 

“No,” she said.

The boy gave her a puzzled look and turned back to Madame Morrible. That was a conversation Elphaba would have to live through later. 

And, in fact, she did, at dinner. Although Madame Morrible had droned on for almost an hour, there was still time for food. Elphaba made sure to be the first into the dining hall, preferring to choose to sit alone than to have no choice. The only problem was, she wasn’t sitting alone. Soon enough, the boy from before sat down across from her, accompanied by a taller, considerably more handsome, boy. 

“Hi, I’m Boq. This is Avaric; he’s my roommate, and I really don’t know why he’s come along.”

“People-watching,” Avaric said. 

Elphaba wrinkled her nose. “Perhaps you should go find more people to watch, then. I can’t imagine I’m the most interesting in the room.”

“I’ve never seen a green person before.”

“That’s because, in theory, I don’t exist. Meaning you are wasting your time looking at someone who does not exist. Feel free to go find a better use of it whenever.”

Boq butted in. “You haven’t told us your name yet.”

“Elphaba.”

He grinned. “I do know you! You were in the same daycare as me when we were little. Don’t you remember?”

“No.”

“You were a bit younger, maybe you don’t remember…”

“If I was a bit younger, how are you a freshman?”

“I didn’t start school until I was seven. My parents never got around to enrolling me, and no one noticed for a while. That’s why I spent so much time in that daycare.”

“I moved to Quadling Country when I was three,” Elphaba said. “I barely remember how much time you spent in the daycare.”

“Quadling Country?” Avaric asked. “Is that safe?”

“I felt safer there than I do with you making snide comments,” Elphaba retorted.

“Anyway,” Boq intervened, “I do remember you. We called you Elphie!”

“Don’t you dare,” Elphaba said.

Boq tilted his head, looking her up and down. “No, it suits you.”

Elphaba sighed. “Are you going to bother me all dinner?”

“No,” said Boq.

“How did you become green?” asked Avaric.

“I was born like this. Don’t ask more about it; I won’t know the answer.” 

“It’s weird.”

“Your interest in my skin is weird.”

Boq quickly engaged Avaric in an irrelevant conversation, leaving Elphaba to eat in peace.

That night, she went back to her dorm, changed into pajamas, and started reading again. Galinda wasn’t there yet, and about an hour later she walked in, waving goodbye to a few girls who looked almost exactly like her in disposition. She closed the door behind her, noticeably relaxed her muscles, and went to one of her suitcases. She took out supplies for a shower and left. The whole time, she had kept her back turned to Elphaba.

A week later, Boq sat next to Elphaba at lunch. “Elphie?”

“Yes?”

“Is it true that Galinda Arduenna is your roommate?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve become infatuated with that girl.”

“I’m not saying anything of the sort.” The blush on his face said otherwise. “Is she your roommate?”

“Yes, she is, but really, you don’t want to go near her.”

“It’s too late now, Elphie, it really is. Can you help me meet her?”

Elphaba sighed. “She hates me."

“Please?”

“I’ll try. If she bites my head off, I blame you.”

"Fair."

\--

Elphaba had brushed her teeth and taken a shower already, and her roommate was nowhere to be found. She bounced on the bed, silently rehearsing what she was going to say about Boq.

When Galinda swept in, already wearing her floor-length nightgown, she immediately looked at Elphaba with disgust. Elphaba held her gaze, her face painstakingly blank, and then Galinda looked away.

No more words were said that night.


End file.
